Jim Whelan

MCCULLOUGH FOR SENATE

POLISTINA AND AMODEO FOR ASSEMBLY

McCullough,Amodeo,& Polistina: Indicted Bryant Safe from Whelan's Resignation Demands 

           (Atlantic County, NJ) When Assemblyman Jim Whelan was mayor of Atlantic City, his Administration awarded more than $400,000 in no-bid contracts to the Camden law firm of State Sen. Wayne Bryant, “a plausible explanation for why Whelan has failed to call for the indicted Sen. Bryant to resign from the Senate,” the Atlantic County Republican legislative team said today.

Atlantic County Republican chairman Keith A. Davis today accused the county Democrat party leadership and its candidates of “remarkable insensitivity if not outright hypocrisy” in ignoring a labor union picket line established at a Linwood office complex in which the Democrat headquarters are located.

MCCULLOUGH FOR SENATE

POLISTINA AND AMODEO FOR ASSEMBLY

McCullough,Amodeo,& Polistina: Pleasantville Corruption Warrants Re-Examination of Current School Aid Funding

(Atlantic County, NJ) Atlantic County’s Republican legislative team said today the “extensive corruption in the Pleasantville Board of Education should serve as a catalyst for the state to re-examine how it funds local education and whether the so-called Abbott district policy which provides additional funding to certain school districts should be substantially amended.”

MCCULLOUGH FOR SENATE

POLISTINA AND AMODEO FOR ASSEMBLY

McCullough,Amodeo,& Polistina: Whelan is Savior of Corrupt Pensioners

(Atlantic County, NJ) Republican State Sen. James “Sonny” McCullough today described as “deceitful and hypocritical” the demand by his opponent, Assemblyman Jim Whelan, that the public officials arrested yesterday forfeit their pensions upon conviction since Whelan voted to preserve pension rights for corrupt public officials under certain circumstances.

MCCULLOUGH FOR SENATE

POLISTINA AND AMODEO FOR ASSEMBLY

McCullough,Amodeo,& Polistina: Culture of Corruption Continues with Whelan's Allies

(Atlantic County, NJ) Atlantic County’s Republican legislative candidates said this past week that the arrest of five current or former board of education members in Pleasantville “reveals the shocking extent of the culture of corruption and betrayal of the public trust which has punished the citizens and taxpayers of the community.”

The message from a major Republican player is simple: if Frank LoBiondo doesn’t step up and make sure his two close friends, State Senators Nicholas Asselta and James “Sonny” McCullough, have enough money to hold their seats in November, then LoBiondo shouldn’t count on huge party support when redistricting time comes – just four years from now. 

More importantly for LoBiondo is the threat of his own second district congressional seat in 2008 or 2010 if Asselta and/or McCullough lose.  The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has already begun to show interest in taking on LoBiondo, and the two Democratic Senate candidates running this year – Jefferson Van Drew and James Whelan – would be formidable rivals to LoBiondo in the next election.  Van Drew went to Washington earlier this year to meet with the DCCC about taking on LoBiondo in a district that is trending Democratic.

“A person could get whiplash watching Assemblyman Jim Whelan’s abrupt changes of position on banning smoking in Atlantic City’s casinos,” according to Atlantic County Republican Chairman Keith A. Davis.

DEMOCRATS AND LABOR LEADERS JOIN FORCES TO ENDORSE JOE WILKINS FOR

Egg Harbor City Mayor Joe Kuehner said he had his heart in the district 2 Assembly race but ultimately had to put his family first.

"It's been a tough couple of months," Kuehner said Thursday night in a telephone interview, referring to the recent stroke his father suffered.

"My father is still in rehab-mode," Kuehner explained. "I'm going to have to be around a lot."

The Atlantic County Democratic Committee is expected to reach an official determination tomorrow regarding Kuehner's replacement, he said.

The key battleground of the 2007 general election will be in Atlantic County, where two-term GOP County Executive Dennis Levinson faces a strong challenge from Democrat James McGettigan, the three-term Sheriff.

In the second legislative district, which includes nearly all of Atlantic County, State Senator James “Sonny” McCullough, a Republican who won a Special Election Convention to replace Bill Gormley in February, faces Democratic Assemblyman James Whelan, the former Mayor of Atlantic City.

There are two open Assembly seats in the second, where seven-term Republican Frank Blee, who lost the Senate race to McCullough and is now backing Whelan, is not seeking re-election. Republicans are running former Linwood City Councilman John Amodeo and Vincent Polistina, who runs an Egg Harbor Township engineering firm. The Democrats are Egg Harbor City Mayor Joseph Kuehner and former Claridge casino counsel Blondell Spellman.

Also at stake is control of the Atlantic County Board of Freeholders, where Republicans currently have a 5-4 majority. Two Democratic seats and one GOP seat are up this fall.